


The Goblet of Fire but Alessa Pantazis Black is There

by profoundlysaltywitch



Series: Miss Black Takes Hogwarts [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Good Draco Malfoy, Good Slytherins, Hogwarts Inter-House Friendships, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Teenage Drama, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:41:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22601152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/profoundlysaltywitch/pseuds/profoundlysaltywitch
Summary: Last year, Alessa managed to prove her father's innocence, help Dumbledore destroy the locket horcrux and befriend many new people. Now her, Harry, Sirius and Lupin are adjusting to their new lives. Draco's relationship with his father is destroyed by his new friendships and views, but his mother's defying everyone's expectations. They expect a chill year, but the Triwizard Tournament awaits.This is a direct sequal to Sirius' Daughter and if it intersts you at all, I recommend you read that first. This time around, the plot will follow that of  the book much more since Alessa's existance doesn't have an effect on the stuff about the triwizard tournament. Expect fluff, a badass protagonist and bit of goodhearted teen drama that will be played for laughs.Ps: occaisonal swearing
Series: Miss Black Takes Hogwarts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616647
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	1. The Visit and Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, and welcome to Alessa's second year at Hogwarts. Ofcourse she won't be at Hogwarts for the first few chaptesrs- it's summer vacation. There isn't a lot going on in this chapter but I like to write some chapters that are solely based on interactions between characters. It's longer than my usual chapters though and I think I might keep that up this time around. As I said, there isn't going to be a lot of change to the main plot in this part so most of it will be written purely for entertainment. 
> 
> I'd like to add that any alternative title ideas will be very much appreciated, because this one sucks but it's all I've got.
> 
> Also I want to explain a major canon divergence in this story, which is the relation between Sirius and Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa. In this version of the story Narcissa, Andromeda and Bellatrix aren't really related to Sirius, just share the same name because of a far off common ancestor and a wish by their ancestors to keep the Black name and the respect and inheritance that comes along with it. Narcissa will explain the same thing in this chapter.

The sittingroom of Number 12 Grimmauld Place was oddly quiet as Sirius, Harry and Alessa sat, all glancing at the fireplace every few seconds. The only sound to be heard was Kreachers footsteps coming from the kitchen, and the sound of the boiling teapot.

Soon enough, exactly at a quarter to four, the fireplace roared with emerald flames, and from it stepped out Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. It was the second week of the holidays and the Malfoys were coming for afternoon tea for the first time. Though Narcissa and Sirius had been rather civil in their previous meetings, everyone felt that this was the true test of wheter the two families could learn to get along.

"Good afternoon" Narcissa greeted them with an elegant smile.   
"Hi!" Draco gave them an awkward wave. He was the most anxious of all about this meeting. Greetings were exchanged as the Malfoy's sat down on the armchairs Sirius motioned them to.   
"Would you like some tea, Narcissa?" Sirius asked- rather unnecessarily as they were here for, _well_ , tea.  
"That would be lovely, Sirius"  
Thus, Kreacher was summoned from the kitchen and came with a tray full of steaming tea and freshly baked pastries. The elf was now in much better shape. His clothes, and his self, was clean and he wore a smile as he served them their tea.   
As he left, Narcissa looked around.   
"I haven't been here in ages, but I must say, it's looking a lot brighter than I remember it."  
"Yeah" Sirius chuckled lightly "I changed the drapes."  
"Did you manage to get rid of those posters in your room?" Narcissa asked, teasingly. "They're not very age appropiate now, are they?"  
This time, Alessa and Harry were the ones to laugh- Draco looked puzzled.   
"I'm afraid I did too good a job sticking them on in the first place." Sirius' eyes twinkled "How mad was mother?"  
"Excessively." Narcissa simply replied, but she was grinning as well. It was strange, seeing such an unladylike expression on her face after her presentable image in public.  
"I thought you weren't related?" Harry said  
Narcissa shook her head.   
"Our families got along well, and we had a common ancestor generations ago, so we were practically raised together, but that was only because they wanted to emphasize their connections to other 'respectable' families. Truthfully, we're so many generations apart that I doubt we share any more genes than most pureblood families always do." Narcissa explained.  
"Actually, they apparently hoped you would get married to me or one of my sist- "  
"WHAT?!" shouted Draco and Sirius simulteniously.  
"Yes," Narcissa Malfoy chuckled again. "Then they realised Sirius was... not an ideal fit. My mother told me all about it a while before she passed. Highly disturbing news." She primly sipped her tea.

The tenseness of the room was relieved. Narcissa had clearly shown that she was willing to 'let down her hair', if you will. She and Sirius got to talking about the old days and what had become of everyone in the past 13 years. Seeing this, Alessa figured it was alright to leave them alone. She took her tea and a plate full of pastries and mimed Harry and Draco to follow her. She took them up to her room in the attic. Sirius and Remus had managed to widen the small window for her, and add another one to the roof- a skylight. The room was decorated with rustic furniture made of dark wood. One side of the room was devoted to her magic ingredients: crystals, potions ingredients, candles, herbs and much more were both stuffed in a large dresser, and splayed out on top of it.  
"Nice room" Draco remarked as Alessa carried the armchair next to the bed and sat down, indicating the boys to sit on the bed.

Draco's summer wasn't going as bad as he'd thought. He explained that his father mostly ignored him, and usually worked late or visited someone after work. He had the distinct impression that his mother wasn't on good terms with the man, and though Lucius looked more scary from the outside, the Narcissa could be much more terrifying then her husband if provoked.  
"I think it's because of something he said about me." Draco explained "Mom once hinted at something of the sort during dinner."  
Then, it was Harry and Alessa's turn to tell Draco about life at Grimmauld Place.   
"Lupin moved in with you?!" The blonde asked in surprise.  
"Yeah, dad convinced him that Remus owed it to him to help him readjust." Alessa supplied. "Apparently no DADA Professor managed to last nore than a year since the 40s, so Lupin didn't want to stay in school and risk it anyway."  
An hour or so later, Kreacher knocked on the door and informed them that the adults had asked for them.

"Why didn't anyone tell me that the Quidditch World Cup Finals were in Britain this year?" Sirius asked, excited. He _would_ have known, if only he'd bothered to take one look at the newspapers Remus had been buying.

"I didn't know either" Harry said while raising his hands defensively.  
"I don't care" Alessa said truthfully, and cheekily grinned at her father who grunted.  
"Well, you should. We're invited." Sirius said, obviously conflicted.  
"By whom?" Harry asked.  
"The Minister of Magic. He feels that _'the Ministery owes us a lifetime of apologies, and wishes us to accept his offer to accompany him on the top box of the match, as dear guests of the ministry'_." Sirius crinkled his nose. "12 years of Azkaban, and he's trying to apologise via **sports tickets**. Nevertheless, I want to go"   
"And we'll be there too." Narcissa added. 

That night, Harry received an owl from Ron, again inviting him and Alessa to the match. He quickly wrote back that they'd already be there, and apparently so would Draco. He was filled with excitement. _The Quidditch World Cup_. He wondered about witches and wizards from other countries. He'd never given a lot of thought to them, even though his adoptive sister was an American, descendant from Greeks. Were there other schools like Hogwarts? There must be. But then, if there were schools of witchcraft and wizardry in say, the US, why hadn't Alessa attended one? Perhaps her grandfather found it silly to send her to a school when he clearly thought her faster and better? Alessa could do magic the likes of which Harry had never seen before, even from older witches and wizards. She knew about things that he doubted professors knew. Like that locating spell she'd done last year to find Pettigrew. It was so... simple, yet so foreign. He really should ask her to teach him a little about these types of magic.   
He shook his head upon hearing Alessa's tremendous yell.  
" **HARRY! DINNER!!!** "

"You could just go up a few stairs you know" he said as he came down.   
"Yes, but I don't have to and so, I won't" she grinned. "Now come on, we're all starving"

As they scarfed down Kreacher's wonderful chicken and potatoes, Sirius filled Remus in about the events of the day.  
"Can you imagine, Narcissa Malfoy has a sense of humor! But more importantly, I got a letter form the Minister. He's invited me and my family to the Quidditch World Cup finale to apoligise for my 12 years in Azkaban. No arguing, because I already sent the letter to reserve four seats." He looked at his friend triumphantly.  
"Four seats?" Remus said "Oh! Thanks Sirius but you really didnt have-"  
"I said no arguing. If you don't go, a seat at the top box will be empty. Now, that's just a waste" the two men grinned at each other as if they were still mischevious schoolchildren, as they so often did nowadays.   
"Oh, the Weasleys will be there too" Harry added. "Ron just sent a letter inviting us. Strange coincidence, huh?"

That night, Harry had a nightmare, and woke up with his scar hurting for the first time in a while. He couldn't recall what it was about, and it made Sirius nervous enough to write to Dumbledore. Ofcourse, Alessa had slept through all of this, being the heavy sleeper she was.

The time untill the match went by quite fast. Draco stopped by a few times, and was again accompanied by Narcissa once. Alessa wrote to Daphne and Blaise to find out that they were also coming, but didn't have quite as good seats. Neville and Luna were not coming. Neville sounded rather depressed about this, but while Alessa hadn't heard from Luna, she doubted the blonde was upset. She was out on some adventure with her dad, which was why the group had pushed their meeting in Diagon Alley to a few days after the match in the first place. Still, that was almost all of them in the same place- which excited Alessa. She'd missed her friends, and would see them soon. She'd attend the finale of the Quidditch World Cup, and maybe finally get why people found the game so wonderful- the games at school hadn't really impressed her. Everything appeared to be set.

What could go wrong?


	2. The Quidditch World Cup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy valentines day <3
> 
> This chapter contains some direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I obviously don't own.

Alessa grunted angrily at her alarm, still refusing to wake up. Her efforts of crushing the clock into silence were- as always- thwarted by the charms her grandpa had put on it so long ago. Finally giving in, she rose out of bed and started towards her wardrobe. She took out some comfortable muggle clothes and quickly got dressed. She generally preferred Muggle clothing to robes- especially for doing sports- anyway, since it was much less high maintenance. So it had been pretty easy for her to pack for the World Cup. She'd made sure to pack as many green items as possible- which wasn't hard considering how much she loved the color anyway- since she was supposed to be supporting Ireland. She didn't care that much about who won, and wouldn't feign excitement but hoped her 'show of support' through clothing would keep the die hard fanatics from murdering her. 

Going down to breakfast, she found that Sirius and Harry were already up and excitedly discussing the possible outcomes of the game over crepes. Remus was sipping his coffee and reading the Daily Prophet, having already finished his breakfast. Not that this was unusual- she was usually the last one in the house to wake up. She wasn't necessarily a morning person. She did, however, love crepes so she was slightly less grumpy than usual.

* * *

Around noon, they apparated to the campsite in pairs. A wizard who obviously didn't know how to disguise himself very well popped up and steered them to the direction of the campsite owner. Thankfully, all of them had experience with Muggle money and customs, and Mr. Roberts wasn't suspicious of them. He did warn them about some strange visitors who seemed to lack all common sense, which they brushed of as casually as possible.

When they found the Weasleys and Hermione, they were struggling to try and put up tents. Or rather Hermione was trying her best to stop the others from making it even harder for her to set it up. With the arrival of the newcomers who at least knew a little bit about muggle stuff, the tents were put up quickly. Their own tent, Sirius had put up using magic while Mr. Weasley's back was turned. 

Soon, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Alessa had been sent out to get some water. They ran into many people from school on their way there, but there was no sign of Daphne or Blaise. Maybe they weren't there yet. Meeting Seamus Finnigan and his mother in the Irish supporters' area, Alessa was glad for her choice to wear green. Sports fans truly frightened her like nothing else. 

"I think she might be my new boggart" she murmured as they moved on, earning a snort from Ron.

* * *

Once they had collected the water- and witnessed an old wizard named Archie refuse to put on pants instead of a nightgown- they headed back towards their tents. Again they saw a familiar face, though Alessa wasn't sure who the girl was. The girl waved over at them, and in his haste to wave back, Harry dumped quite a bit of the water on himself. Alessa, unlike Ron, was nice enough to wait until the girl was out of earshot before sniggering. 

"Who was that, by the way?" 

"That's Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker."

"Oooh" Alessa said in realization. "The one you went particularly easy on last year, you mean?" 

"I did **NO** such thing!" Harry defended himself, but he was blushing rather badly. 

When they returned, they saw an exasperated Remus and Sirius sitting on either side of an excited Arthur Weasley, who was trying to light a fire using matches. He seemed to have been trying for a while, judging by the amount of put out matches littering the floor. Hermione sighed, she always had to be the one to help the other wizards blend in.

"I've got this one" Alessa assured her and went to Mr. Weasley's side. They used to light a wood stove in the orphanage in colder months, and she was the one who always re-lit it when the fire went out during the night. She had always been good at sneaking around and not getting into trouble, due to her magıc as she now knew, so she was the one the other kids would turn to at times like that. Especially Ella... 

She showed Mr. Weasley how to use the match, but the man still didn't seem to be all that good at it. 

"You could just get a lighter." Alessa said in the end "Muggles often use those because they are more convenient"

Mr. Weasley audibly made a mental note to acquire a 'layder'.

It would be long before the fire would be ready to cook anything or even make tea, so Alessa decided to go around looking for her other friends. She found Daphne quite easily as the other girl had also been looking for her. They went around the campsite, chatting comfortably. Finally, they found Blaise. And his mother. It was certainly obvious where Blaise had gotten his looks and charms from. The witch smiled brightly down at her son's friends and offered them some tea, which they gladly accepted. She was a highly interesting woman. She'd been widowed many times, and there were many nasty rumors about her "offing her husbands"

"Frankly I believe I may be cursed. People can turn very nasty when they're jealous" she stated in a dignified manner. Though Alessa realised that her choice to keep getting married was a strange one if she thought she was cursed, she kept her mouth shut. 

After an hour or so, the two girls thanked Ms. Zabini (who was currently single, somehow) and went back. Alessa dropped Daphne off at her tent and met her parents. She'd met her little sister Astoria before, but they weren't very close. Astoria wanted to build a seperate circle for herself and wasn't keen on becoming close with her sister's friends. She obviously didn't want to live in her sister's shadow, which Alessa understood. 

At last, Alessa found the Malfoys. Their tent was very extravagant, though it didn't look as obviously magical as others. In front of the tent, Draco sat alone, sipping water and surveying his surroundings. By the interest in his gaze, Alessa figured that he hadn't been here long. Noticing her, he waved her over.

"Hi" was all Alessa could get out before Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy emerged from the tent. Lucius's face hardened upon seeing the girl, while his wife's broke into a smile. After a pretty awkward few minutes of conversation- it had been awkward due to Lucius' far too silent but disapproving presence- Alessa had gotten Narcissa's permission to take Draco to their tent for tea. Lucius had let out a tiny sound of indignation as the pair left, but hadn't tried to stop them. 

When they reached the tents, they were surprised to find a large, but soft featured man having tea with the group. 

"Oh, here you are. Alessa, Draco, this is Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." Mr. Weasley introduced the blonde man. He turned to Bagman "These are Alessa Pantazis Black and Draco Malfoy"

"Nice to meet you, sir" 

"Likewise" Bagman said merrily. "Excited for the match?" 

Alessa chose to stay quiet while Draco agreed wholeheartedly.

Soon enough, another man came into sight. He was a stiff, uptight, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie. The parting in his short grey hair was almost unnaturally straight and his narrow toothbrush moustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide-rule. His shoes were very highly polished. He sort of looked like a banker. 

"Mr. Crouch!" Percy exclaimed as the man came towards them

“Pull up a bit of grass, Barty,” said Ludo brightly, patting the ground beside him.

“No thank you, Ludo,” said Crouch, impatiently. He then went on to explain something about the Bulgarians requesting extra seats, but Alessa couldn't be bothered to listen.

Barty Crouch. She recognised the name. This was the man who'd refused to give her father a trial, and now here he was, not even aware that he was in the presence of three people whose lives he had ruined for over a decade. That wouldn't do. Yes, Alessa couldn't very well harm the man, but she could- and felt that she should- make him uncomfortable.

As she had her inner conversation, the others had moved further along into theirs

“So, been keeping busy, Barty?” said Bagman breezily.

"Fairly, Organizing Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo.” Barty Crouch replied. Mr. Weasley seemed like he was about to speak, but Alessa didn't want to waste her chance and intervened.

"It must be a fairly hard thing to do '' she feigned interest. Crouch looked at her for the first time, and his eyes flickered to Sirius, who was sitting right next to her. He became even paler, if that was possible. 

"I'm Alessa Pantazis Black," the girl held out her hand "I believe you've met my father, Sirius?"

Crouch gulped and shook his head, and cautiously shook Alessa's hand. He looked incredibly uncomfortable. Mr. Weasley broke the silence hastily. 

“I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?” 

Ludo Bagman looked shocked. 

“Glad! Don’t know when I’ve had more fun... Still, it’s not as though we haven’t got anything to look forward to, eh, Barty? Eh? Plenty left to organize, eh?” 

Mr. Crouch raised his eyebrows at Bagman. 

“We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details —”

“Oh details!” said Bagman, waving the word away like a cloud of midges. “They’ve signed, haven’t they? They’ve agreed, haven’t they? I bet you anything these kids will know soon enough anyway. I mean, it’s happening at Hogwarts —” 

“Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know,” said Mr. Crouch sharply, cutting Bagman’s remarks short. “Thank you for the tea, Weatherby.” 

He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise; Bagman struggled to his feet. 

“See you all later!” he said. “You’ll be up in the Top Box with me — I’m commentating!”

No matter how much they tried, they could not get the adult Weasleys to tell them what was going on at Hogwarts. Though it must be something exciting, since Bill said something about wishing he were back at school this year.

* * *

A sense of excitement rose like a palpable cloud over the campsite as the afternoon wore on. Salesmen were apparating every few feet, carrying trays and pushing carts full of extraordinary merchandise.

“Been saving my pocket money all summer for this,” Ron told Harry as they strolled through the salesman. Ron purchased a dancing shamrock hat and a large green rosette, but he also bought a small figure of Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker. Something about him being the best seeker in the world- or youngest, yeah, something like that.

Just then, Harry discovered what looked like brass binoculars, except that they were covered with all sorts of weird knobs and dials. 

“Omnioculars,” said the saleswizard eagerly. “You can replay action . . . slow everything down . . . and they flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need it. Bargain — ten Galleons each.” 

“Wish I hadn’t bought this now,” said Ron, gesturing at his dancing shamrock hat.

"Five pairs, please" Alessa said to the salesman, and as Ron stuttered that she shouldn't get him one, she reminded him:

"I didn't get you anything for your birthday, or Christmas last year. Didn't know you well enough yet. So... Happy birthday, and Merry Christmas" she pushed one to Ron's arms and gave out the rest. Harry mimed a thank you to her. Normally he'd have done this, but Ron got even more touchy feely about his lack of money when it was Harry who did something for him. Alessa knew that this had a lot to do with the ginger's insecurities about being compared to his best-friend, 'the Boy Who Lived'.

* * *

“Prime seats!” said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. “Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go.”

Upon reaching the top box, they found that it was empty, except for a house elf, who was sitting alone and covering her eyes.

Their chat with Winky the house elf left Hermione quite angry, though only Alessa seemed to notice it. When Fudge came up to the top box, he greeted Sirius, Alessa and Harry like old friends, determined to show that he 'cared'. There was a tense moment when the Malfoys arrived after him, as Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy had apparently had a fight when they'd last met. The tense moment was softened by Narcissa Malfoy, who stepped in front of her husband and greeted Mr. Weasley and Remus kindly before giving Sirius a small hug. They all got seated as Bagman announced the Bulgarian mascots. 

As the Veela's started to dance, Alessa felt a strange infatuation wash over her. She knew what Veela's magical properties were, however, and fought the sudden urge to jump up from her seat and do something 'impressive'. To her side, she saw that Harry, Ron and Draco weren't as in control of themselves as she was. She chuckled as she caught Draco, who was seated right next to her by the back of his shirt's collar and forced him to sit back down before he embarrassed himself. Ron and Harry hadn't been so lucky though. They had almost thrown themselves over the railing before the Veela's dance had stopped. 

Hermione made a loud tutting noise.

“Honestly!” she said as she reached up and pulled Harry back into his seat.

She didn't seem to have been affected at all. _Interesting_ , Alessa thought, _I guess...._ Her thoughts were soon drawn back to the pitch as a swarm of leprechauns started to throw gold over the stands, as she didn't much fancy getting knocked out by leprechaun gold trauma to the head at this very moment.

"Excellent!" Ron yelled.

"Not really," said Draco "It's fake gold. Disappears in a few hours"

Finally, the match had started. And, finally, Alessa understood why people loved Quidditch. She watched the players zooming around the field, and felt her excitement grow. She cheered wholeheartedly when Ireland scored. 

"I thought you didn't care?" Her father snidely remarked next to her. She simply rolled her eyes at him, but didn't try to deny how much she was enjoying the gamesince she had turned her hair a hideous shade of bright green in support for the team. 

* * *

"Now that was some match!" Bill said as they situated themselves around the table in the tent Sirius had purchased. 

"It definitely was," Fred chimed in "Even Alessa here enjoyed it" he pointed at her still green hair. 

"Should we be offended that you never seem to care about the matches at school?" George asmed jokingly. Draco had made the same remark as they'd parted after the match. Alessa shook her head.

"Actually, you two are the only ones I enjoy watching through the games" she said truthfully.

"No offense Harry, it's just that it's slightly more exciting than watching you squint"


	3. Hugh and the Nightmare Fairies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post, but I've got a midterm in about 36 hours so I've been a bit preoccupied. I have the next chapter almost ready- it's extremely short, but will bu up in a few days. I find that usually I have a lot of inspiration right after exams, so I should be able to go back to the regular schedule of a chapter every week. 
> 
> Hope you like this <3

Alessa woke up suddenly as someone was shaking her rather harshly, and instantly heard the muffled sound of yells coming from outside. 

"What's going on?" She asked urgently, as she grabbed her wand and shot out of bed. 

"Some sort of riot" answered Harry "Sirius and Remus are going to try and stop it. They want us to go hide"

Alessa rushed out of the tent to see what was going on and was met with a campsite that looked nothing like the one she'd toured that morning. A large group of dark hooded figures were marching, laughing as they trampled everything on sight. There were... four figures floating above them, though she couldn't make out what they were from the distance. Suddenly, she jumped at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder and turned to point her wand threateningly at- her father. She relaxed as the man moved to be between her and the rallying crowd.

"I want you and Harry to get away from here. Go catch up with him and your friends. We'll handle this, don't worry." He looked worried. And he was. He knew they could get this situation under control and everything would be okay, but he also knew his daughter. She wasn't going to leave quietly if she realised that the floating figures were the Roberts family. He wanted to get her out before she saw them clearly, but it was already too late. Looking over his head, she'd seen the figures more closely, and Sirius saw her face harden, eyes filling with anger.

"Those are children... no, that one's barely a toddler!" was all she said. The pair were silent as she looked over at the scene for about a minute. Then she dashed into the tent, leaving her father very confused. It was a matter of seconds before she was out of the tent, holding a crystal necklace and a silver knife.

"Alessa I won't have you fight!" Sirius held onto the girl's arm. 

"I'm not going to fight. But I am getting the little one out of there." 

It would've been much harder to convince Sirius to go along with her plan had it not been for the fact that the crowd would get to them before he could force her to leave. 

"Remember dad, once my blood touches the crystal, I only have 2 minutes of protection. Summon me as soon as you see me."

Sirius nodded, feeling much more scared than his daughter did. 

"Thank you" and with that, Alessa used the silver knife to create a small cut on her left palm, grabbing the crystal around her neck when enough blood had pooled out. The crystal shone eerily, and so did the girl. Then she disapperated. Moments later, she'd appeared on top of the crowd, right next to the crying toddler and was hugging the kid as she began to fall. For a moment they were suspended there, but then the light from the crystal spread to him from Alessa and they were both falling. But they were also being propelled towards the spot where Sirius still stood- he'd used the summoning charm as his daughter had asked-, so it was quite a comical sight. Some of the people in the crowd were sending various spells their way, but it all seemed to ricochet off the protective barrier of light. The two were rocketing towards Sirius, first somewhat in the air and now, with Alessa laid down on her back, holding the kid safely in her lap. She throughly hoped they'd get back before the protection spell wore off- she didn't want to feel the effects of the friction. 

Finally, they reached Sirius, and Alessa sprang up to her feet. The light around her was slowly fading. 

"Thanks dad" she smiled at the man and gave him a kiss on the cheek "and be careful"

With that, she took off running, still clutching the crying child.

"Alessa! Are you mad?!" Daphne, Blaise and Draco were running out of the woods and towards her.

"Probably" Alessa answered her roommate "but that's not the pressing matter right now" 

As they navigated through the woods, they found a small clearing around one especially large tree. Alessa finally let the kid's feet touch the ground, but kept holding him. He was desperately trying to get away, obviously afraid. 

"It's alright," she said as calmingly as she could with her breath still heavy from all the running "you're safe now, I'll protect you. And the others will help your family. It'll all be over soon."

"I WANT TO WAKE UP!" the kid shrieked. He thought this was a nightmare. 

"And you will, but not just yet" Alessa smiled comfortingly. "All nightmares end at some point, don't they? You'll wake up and be in your mother's arms in no time." The kid was still crying, though he stopped trying to wriggle away from Alessa's grasp. 

"Now, what's your name, then?"

"Hugh"

"Nice to meet you, Hugh. I'm Alessa, and these are my friends. It's our job tonight to make this nightmare into a dream for you. Will you let us try?"

The boy looked highly interested, now that he was thoroughly sure of the fact that he was asleep. His crying had subsided as he nodded, but he still seemed afraid and in shock.

Alessa took out a small vial and a flask from her pockets and put one drop of the calming draught into the water. She then shook it well, and instructed Hugh to take two sips. 

"That should be enough" she smiled brightly. Hugh nodded again, instantly seeming slightly calmer. 

"Let's sit together, and we can tell you stories" she feigned enthusiasm as she turned to her friends, who had been watching her interaction with Hugh in shock. She gestured them to sit down, and practically forced everyone to form a circle.

Strangely enough, it had been Draco's stories that Hugh had loved the most. Daphne and Blaise couldn't remember many details of the stories by Beedle the Bard, and Alessa only knew muggle stories, which the boy had already heard before. Draco, on the other hand, was a good story-teller, something about his often obnoxious voice became softer and calming as he recalled the tales to the young muggle boy, who'd by then started to _actually_ fall asleep, his head falling to Blaise's lap. 

They sat there in silence for a while, as they didn't want to risk waking the boy.

"How did you get him out?" Blaise's whisper broke the silence. 

"With this" Alessa held up the gem necklace which was still around her neck. "It's a protection charm my grandpa made specifically for me. It gives me and anyone I'm touching 2 minutes of strong magical protection once the runes he carved on the crystal are covered with my blood. I mean, it did. It's a one use thing."

"And you used it to get a kid out of trouble a little earlier? Of Course you would. Not like that could be used when- I don't know, a dark wizard's about to Avada Kedavra your ass or anything" he snarled as much as he could, but had little success since he too was whispering.

"I have 2 more" Alessa shrugged "And I can always ask him to make another one. I'd do it myself, but they have to be a gift. Intention is where the true power of the magic lies." 

Just as Draco opened his mouth to retort, Daphne stifled a gasp and pointed up at the sky, and got his attention. The two blondes looked terrified, but Alessa and Blaise hadn't seen the source of their fear yet, as they had their backs to that direction. Turning around, Alessa saw a gigantic emerald snake floating on the sky. There was something... wrong about it. In her mind, she replayed what she'd said moments ago, intertwining it with the memory of what her grandfather had told her years ago. **_Intention is where the true power of magic lies_**. That snake, was intended to be a cause of _terror_ , though Alessa couldn't see why. 

"What is that?"

"It's the Dark Mark- The Dark Lord's Mark"

"Voldemort has a mark?" Daphne and Draco shuddered at the name.

"But what's it doing here?" Blaise questioned. "No one's seen it in ages. And I don't think even those idiots would stoop this low." He indicated the campsite. They waited in worry and silence as familiar faces started to appear in their clearing and ran out. Finally, came Mr. Weasley who was dragging Harry, Hermione and Ron towards the tents. 

"Thank Merlin, you're alright" the man exclaimed as the four came towards them. His concern was met with hushes. 

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

"The muggle kid's asleep" Draco whispered as the girls pointed at Hugh.

Mr. Weasley's eyes grew wide, but he didn't comment. 

"Alright," he whispered "I can carry him, we'll take him to his family" 

* * *

Though they were tired, Sirius and Remus packed up the tent that night, and took Alessa and Harry back to Grimmauld Place. The others were too tired, and they had too many underage kids, so they'd have to wait for a portkey. 

When they reached home, they didn't immediately go to sleep. They made themselves some rather strong tea- as they didn't want to wake up Kreacher at this ungodly hour- and everyone went around to tell what had happened that night. Sirius and Remus explained how they (along with all the other witches and wizards who were helping instead of running) had managed to safely get Mr and Mrs Roberts and their older child down. 

Alessa and Sirius explained how they'd gotten Hugh to safety first, and finally, it was Harry's turn to explain everything that had transpired that night.

When Alessa went to bed, she found it hard to sleep. Not because of the tea- but because of what Harry had told them. Another mental list was in order.

  1. Someone had stolen Harry's wand at some point of that night. 
  2. Harry heard a human male voice casting the spell for the Dark Mark. 
  3. Winky had turned up with the wand, under the Dark Mark
  4. Mr. Crouch had fired her despite knowing it couldn't have been her that cast the spell.



She sighed as she turned in her bed. Maybe she didn't have to worry about it so much? After all, Harry could have simply dropped the wand somewhere, and Winky would've picked it up to give it to its owner- elves did like to be helpful.

And someone from that crowd might have cast the Dark Mark, there _must've_ been some drunk ex-death eaters there. Mr. Crouch firing Winky over nothing... well that wasn't surprising at all. She shouldn't worry that something bigger had happened last night. But for some reason, she felt like it had. She sighed and turned again, slipping into an uneasy sleep.


	4. Summer's End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, hope you're all healthy and happy. Sorry for the very late update. This was written and ready to go- like last month, but I never got around to publishing it until now. I actually have the next chapter done as well so that'll be up soon.  
> Take care of yourselves and stay safe <3

Harry looked around awkwardly as two witches much older than them openly pointed at him as they passed by the ice cream shop. They could at least attempt to hide it, in Alessa's opinion, but it was almost as if the members of the wizarding world took some special joy in making the boy uncomfortable. She sighed.

"We _should_ have gone to a muggle place" 

"We'd still get stared at" Hermione said as her eyes flitted between Luna and Draco. The latter scoffed

"I am perfectly capable of disguising myself, Hermione"

"Of Course you are, sweetie" Hermione's voice was uncharacteristically dripping with sarcasm. The Slytherins were definitely rubbing off on her.

When another group of bystanders took to openly gaping at Harry and discussing him rather loudly, the group of friends had had enough. Alessa was about to get up and go over to the group who had now dared to begin discussing Lily and James, but she didn't have to. 

"Oi!" Blaise yelled, as nonchalant as ever with his feet propped up on a spare chair and crossed, leaning back on the chair the rest of his body currently occupied. Daphne smirked rather than say anything. She wasn't much for confrontation herself, but she'd been extremely annoyed as well.

"What?!" Yelled back one of the boys, who had been the one to bring up Harry's parents.

"It's rude to point and stare, you know." Alessa provided with a courteous smile on her face.

"And it's even ruder to talk about someone as if they can't hear you" Blaise chimed in again.

The boy, who was obviously older than them by at least 5 years, chuckled.

"Oh, shut up! We're not doing anythin-"

"Wrong." Draco was the one who cut him off. "You were doing something wrong. The next time you want to talk about someone's dead parents whom you never knew, make sure to be out of earshot." Draco had his familiar sneer on his face, which annoyed his old rivals much less when directed at the older boy, who stared, mouth agape, as if it was the first time it was dawning on him that Harry was a person. 

The blonde took out some gold from his pockets almost absentmindedly and gently left it on the table, for the ice creams.

"To the muggle world, then" Luna sounded her usual dreamy self, but Alessa was sure she could see a glimmer of excitement in the big, pale blue eyes. It made her heart flutter momentarily.

* * *

Some of them were already in muggle clothing, and the rest just went out in their summer robes. If anyone did question, they were putting on a play- Hermione, Harry and Alessa were the stage crew (as they were the ones with muggle clothing), with the rest being actors dressed as wizards. 

"What the fuck is this?" Blaise held the menu up by two rather unwilling fingers, as if he were holding up a particularly stinky pair of socks.

"It's the menu. The list of items available for ordering" Hermione provided.

"That sounds convenient" Luna said 

"Oh, it is." Alessa jumped in the conversation suddenly, earning a glare from Ron who she'd been talking to until a second ago, and a knowing look from Daphne. "What would you like? Coffee? Tea? Food?" The brunette pretended not to have noticed the reactions.

"I might like some tea..." Luna mused "What would you recommend?" 

The two girls ended up having a blend of jasmine and white tea, while everyone else apart from Harry, Hermione and Draco- who'd ordered coffee- went for traditional black teas.

Alessa pretended not to notice the looks Daphne kept sending her way as she held onto Luna's every word. For fucks sake, she was 14 and just discovering herself. A simple crush couldn't hurt. Plus, Luna was so cool that they'd probably manage to stay friends if they ever dated and broke up.

_ Damn it, Alessa. _

_ Think about something else, this is wildly inappropriate. _

"So, Golden Boy, what' you expect Hogwarts has in store this year?" Draco asked Harry and saved Alessa from her thoughts.

"Nothing serious, classes and- Hey! Stop calling me that!"

"God I hope you're right. Just once, I want to focus fully on classes. I hear fourth year is the easiest curriculum, so it'd be good to get ahead in some 5th year work if I have the time..." Hermione went off into a monologue about Arithmancy OWL material, and the rest of the afternoon went by with talks of academics and joking around. 

* * *

  
  


"Come on, Alessa! We're gonna be late!"

"Alright... I'm up, I'm up"

It was the day of the Hogwarts Express, and Alessa had overslept again. In her defence, it wasn't that she slept too much, but more that she was a night owl. She spent her nights studying from the Pantazis and Black tomes and the extra books she'd gotten that summer. Ever since the incident at the World Cup, she'd really gotten into protection and healing magic. She was working on creating a more effective protection charm necklace by improving upon the one her grandpa had gotten her, and it was proving to be hard work with the trace that the Ministry had put on her when she'd moved her legal residency to England.

She managed to gulf down some breakfast and chug her green tea before Sirius and Remus side alonged them to King's Cross Station. She was still half asleep as they met up with Ron, Hermione, Draco and Blaise to find a compartment. They finally found the one which Daphne and Neville occupied and sat down. As soon as the train started to move, Ron started telling them about how his father had gone to help Mad-eye Moody that morning, and when the rest of the purebloods filled her, Harry and Hermione in about who he was, Alessa's brain finally woke up. For a long time, they discussed whether something had actually happened- Alessa doubted it had- until the door to their compartment flew open.

"Hi everyone!" Ginny greeted them all as she and Luna sat down. There were now far too many of them for one compartment, which meant Alessa and Luna were practically lap to lap. This made Alessa feel hot in the face, a feat that Daphne -of course- noticed. The blonde gave her best friend a smirk and a wink, which made Alessa blush even harder. 

_Stop it!_ She told herself as they traveled through the beautiful Scottish land.

"So, anything interesting happen in the Potter-Black household?" Neville asked at some point

"I wager that _breakfast_ is an interesting feat at their house" Blaise offered. 

"Not really, though you'll be happy to know that I made some progress with the protection necklaces. At least, I think so. I couldn't test it out with this stupid trace on me. I'm making some changes to the incantation and adding some extra runes and herbs to the charms. I'll try making them this week and we can test how well I've done next weekend or something?"

"Why are you even working on defence charms? I'd go all in for offence." Ron mused from the other corner of the compartment. 

"Well, Ronald. The charms she's working on aren't for her, they're for whoever she gifts them to. Plus, defence is much more important than offence in the wider picture. Less glorious, yes, but it keeps you alive." Hermione jumped in, irritated. S he seemed to get irritated with Ron quite easily these days.

"Yeah" Alessa added "Plus, I've been more interested in protection and healing since the World Cup. I don't want to be the one causing destruction. I'd much prefer the one who prevents or fixes it." 

Luna, as immune to awkwardness as she thankfully was, jumped in to change the subject- though they doubted she realized that she'd prevented a long and uncomfortable silence. She started talking about this article her father had just published, and the compartment was soon filled with lighthearted chatter once again.  
  


When they reached Hogwarts, they were all fairly comfortable, and not at all expecting exciting news. Of course, Dumbledore was all too happy to surprise them with the overdramatic introduction of Mad-Eye Moody and the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament. As Alessa went to bed that night, she was more determined than ever to finish and perfect her protection necklaces. Someone- hopefully someone who wasn't close to her- was going to need one.


	5. Slightly Mad and Extremely Grumpy: Requirements for Teaching at Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you i'd upload soon :) 
> 
> Ps. This chapter also includes some direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Just a heads up.

"Ooh, we have Care of Magical Creatures this afternoon" Alessa said to Daphne cheerfully as she looked over her new schedule. 

"Let's try not to get trampled to death by whatever Hagrid's managed to get over the holidays" Daphne didn't look quite as enthusiastic as her best friend.

"Seriously Alessa, I know you like the guy but he's not a very good teacher." Draco chimed in.

"Come on! Nothing we do in this school is actually safe" Alessa defended "Plus it wasn't his fault that you insulted a fucking hippogriff last year. He specifically told us not to do that" 

Draco screwed up his face at the memory, but didn't reply.

  


Upon arriving at the Care of Magical Creatures class that afternoon, Alessa found it harder to defend Hagrid's teaching. There were crates, filled with hundreds of what looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. 

“On’y jus’ hatched,” said Hagrid proudly, “so yeh’ll be able ter raise ’em yerselves! Thought we’d make a bit of a project of it!” 

“And why would we want to raise them?” said Draco, unable to help himself.

“I mean, what do they do?” he said in an attempt to be slightly more polite.

Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds’ pause, then he said roughly, “Tha’s next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus’ feedin’ ’em today. Now, yeh’ll wan’ ter try ’em on a few diff’rent things — I’ve never had ’em before, not sure what they’ll go fer — I got ant eggs an’ frog livers an’ a bit o’ grass snake — just try ’em out with a bit of each.”

Their attempts at feeding the skrewts were rather unsuccessful, as the things didn't appear to have mouths. Not only that, but quite a few of them had fallen victim to the 'blasting end of a skrewt'. 

  


“Well, I can certainly see why we’re trying to keep them alive,” said Draco as they made their way back up the castle for lunch an hour later sarcastically. “Who wouldn’t want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?”

“Well, at least the skrewts are small,” said Ron 

“They are now, ” said Hermione in an exasperated voice, “but once Hagrid’s found out what they eat, I expect they’ll be six feet long.”

"Seriously, how did he make those things?" Daphne asked, just as exasperatedly. 

"He must've crossed some different creatures" Alessa said "I wonder what they were. Maybe a firecrab? They have blasting ends too. Whatever it is or whatever it can do, I don't think it's worth losing limbs over."

"You're right" said Hermione "The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all.”

Thankfully, Arithmancy with Professor Vector was still a blast. Except for Blaise's comments about the cinched sleeves of their robes- he, the boy pointed out,  was smart enough to drop Care of Magical Creatures. 

  


During dinner, Alessa overheard some upperclassmen excitedly praising Moody's Defence lesson. She later heard from Harry and Ron that the Weasley twins were fans of him as well. By the time she got to bed, she was properly looking forward to the class they would have on Wednesday.

  


The next day, they finally had their first Potions class. Alessa had been under the impression that she'd gotten back in good terms with Professor Snape- or as good of terms as she possibly could anyway, at least he'd been treating her almost as he had before finding out about her father. But this class, he seemed to have gone back to hating her guts. On the upside he was almost as hateful towards everyone else as well. 

"Merlin, he's in a mood" Blaise remarked as they left the classroom. 

"I'll say," Neville said, catching up to them. He'd managed to melt his cauldron again this lesson, so he looked very disheveled. "He gave me detention for tonight. I'll have to disembowel a barrel full of horned toads!"

  


Finally, Wednesday arrived and it was time for the Slytherins' first Defence class with Moody. Not even Draco and Blaise were trying to cover up their excitement, and the entire class arrived a little early for the lesson. When Moody arrived, he pointed at the textbooks.

“You can put those away,” he growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, “those books. You won’t need them.”

Then he took the register. The way his normal eye moved steadily down the list while his magical eye swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he or she answered was rather creepy.

"Alright." He said when he was done. “I’ve had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you’ve had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures — you’ve covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves. But you’re behind — very behind — on dealing with curses” said Moody. 

“So I’m here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I’ve got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark Magic."

One year? Blaise silently mouthed to Daphne.

“So — straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I’m supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I’m not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you’re in the sixth year. You’re not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. 

But Professor Dumbledore’s got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you’re up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you’ve never seen? A wizard who’s about to put an illegal curse on you isn’t going to tell you what he’s about to do. He’s not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful"

He paused to look over the classroom, which was completely silent. Everyone was completely focused on Moody- even Crabbe and Goyle seemed interested.

  


“So . . . do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?” 

Granted, this was a rather laughable question to direct at a class which contained the children of at least 3 Death Eaters that Alessa knew of. Still, everyone kept their calm demeanours as Draco -uncharacteristically tentatively- raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy"

"The Unforgivable Curses, sir"

"Yes, and do you know what those are?" Moody asked and there was something in his tone that Alessa deeply disliked.

"I've heard of one... the Imperius curse"

“Ah, yes,” said Moody appreciatively. “Your father would know that one." 

  


Moody took out a glass jar with three black spiders, and took one out. Alessa recoiled internally. 

He pointed his wand at the spider and muttered, “Imperio!”

As he made the spider do ridiculous things like jump around and dance, most people in the class started laughing along. But Moody wasn't at all amused. 

“Think it’s funny, do you?” he growled. “You’d like it, would you, if I did it to you?” 

The laughter died away almost instantly. 

“Total control,” said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. “I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats . . .”

“Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse,” said Moody, and looked pointedly at Draco. “Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will." Draco forced himself to sit straight and look directly into Moody's good eye defiantly.

“The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I’ll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone’s got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT 

VIGILANCE!” he barked, and everyone jumped. 

“Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?”

For possibly the first time ever, Crabbe raised his hand in a class.

"The Cruciatus Curse" 

Moody nodded, and took out the next spider. First, he enlarged it, so they could see better. 

Then he raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, “Crucio!” 

At once, the spider’s legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but it was obvious that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently. The torturing curse. The one Alessa's mother had been subjected to time upon time that night, among other, more physical attacks. She felt herself shake with anger and grab the desk very tightly. 

Someone elbowed her and broke her trans. She turned to see Daphne's concerned face, among others. Moody had stopped it as well. Everyone was looking at... her desk. 

Which was half covered with ice, spreading from the point she'd grabbed on to it. She took a deep breath to calm her anger. She hadn't lost control since the horcrux. She couldn't afford to lose control like this- ever. _I jave to start meditating again,_ she thought tp herself.

"Sorry" she muttered without really meaning it. She touched the ice and willed it to melt. All the while, she could feel Moody's magical eye boring into her. 

After a moment, he cleared his throat and moved on, magical eye still on Alessa

“Pain,” said Moody softly. “You don’t need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. . . . That one was very popular once too. 

“Right . . . Do you happen to know the other one, Ms...?” he looked directly at Alessa with both eyes.

"Black." She said, still angry"And yes, it's Avada Kedavra." Several people gulped. 

“Ah,” said Moody, a slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. “Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra . . . the Killing Curse.”

He took out the last spider in the jar, and the entire class held their breath as he pointed his wand at it. 

“Avada Kedavra!” Moody roared. 

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air. Instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Several of the students gasped.

Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. 

“Not nice,” he said calmly. “Not pleasant. And there’s no countercurse. There’s no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it. Harry Potter."

  


Alessa didn't like the thought of Harry having to witness this lesson. Not one bit. This was highly inappropriate, considering how many of their classmates had lost their loved ones in the war to these very curses. No, she definitely didn't like Moody's approach. 

  


Alessa raised her hand

"Yes?"

"What's the point of this" she pointed at the dead spider on the floor "Since there's no way to defend ourselves from it? Are we going to practice dodging?"

Moody narrowed his eyes, but decided not to get mad right now.

“Because you’ve got to know. You’ve got to appreciate what the worst is. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” he roared, and the whole class jumped again, though Alessa remained firmly on her seat. She was of the impression that just saying what the last two curses did would have sufficed. Torturing and killing spiders were just showmanship. 

Her opinion was supported by the fact that after they were dismissed, people started talking about the class in awe, as if they had just seen a splendid performance of Macbeth. Thankfully, Alessa's friends weren't awestruck either. Or at least they pretended not to be because she was so down. Not that it mattered. 

She spent the rest of the day rather gloomily, despite Blaise's constant efforts of making her laugh. She only managed to catch up with Harry at the doors of the Great Hall just before dinner. 

"Hey, Harry. Can I talk to you a moment?"

She dragged him off to an empty corner and put up a silencing charm. She then told him about Moody's lesson.

"Just... be... prepared- you know, mentally" 

Harry gulped and nodded

"Yeah... Sure. Will do."

"And, can you also tell Neville? I don't know what happened to his parents but..." 

"Yes. I will."

  


By Friday night, Alessa had decided that this was certainly going to be a tough year. Care of Magical Creatures was setting out to be both boring and possibly deadly, Snape seemed to be more spiteful than usual and Moody, though good at his subject, didn't invoke any trust in Alessa. Thankfully, ancient runes and charms had become even more interesting than last year, and her other Professor's were- god bless- still sane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are arriving next chapter- after that the story will start to pick up more pace again. But I realize that I quite enjoy just writing about their daily lives- classes, hanging out etc. too, so I'll keep that in there for sure.  
> I'm also struggling with a dilemma right now- what should I do about Cedric? It's one of the most trac deaths in the series, soI both don't want it to happen and son't want to lose the value it has for the plot. If any of you let me know what you thşnk I should do with him, that would be most welcome- and I'll probably obey your wishes. 
> 
> Stay safe- and sane  
> Xoxo


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